Hunter of the Evernight-Chapter 830: Trapped

He sat alone with nothing but darkness surrounding him.

Like a madman, he murmured constantly to himself, repeating the same thing over and over again, almost like he was trying to convince himself to believe what he was saying.

"My name is Alexander Rey, husband of Isabella and father to Mary-Jane. I am from Earth and I am a special operative for the US government."

He did not dare to stop for even a moment, almost like he was scared that if he did, he would no longer be able to recall the things he spoke of.

And so he continued, even when he had no memories to back up the things he mentioned, even when the concept of a planet different from Eventide was foreign to him.

He did not stop.

***

Alex opened his eyes to find himself staring at a lavishly decorated ceiling.

Blinking repeatedly, he sat up to find that he was also lying in a king-sized bed that was indeed made for a king.

The rest of the room seemed large enough to fit at least a hundred people and as for the furnishings applied, Alex had to admit that the interior decorator had great taste and the owner of the room was quite wealthy.

He frowned, unsure of what to make of his current circumstance.

The last thing he remembered was... and then it hit him like a train, throwing him off balance and causing him to fall back into the bed.

Without Nyx’s protection, even daring to recall his encounter with the Beast was equivalent to trying to commit suicide.

His mind nearly fractured, leaving him gasping for breath with his eyes widened.

After several seconds had passed with him barely managing to recover, he once again sat up and then glanced around, quickly discovering a tall window close by.

He got out of bed and walked towards it after which he stared out of it, unsure of what he would find outside.

Sure enough, it was unlike anything he’d ever seen.

There was no sky above, and instead, it seemed as though he was in some sort of cavern, and as for the area below, there was hardly any form of lighting.

If not for his capability to see in dark places, he wouldn’t be able to make out anything at all and the little that he did caused him even more confusion.

It appeared to be structures forged out of a white porcelain-like substance, though he might be wrong about the color.

As for the presence of people, he couldn’t be sure there were any in the area below though he did catch a few things rushing by, leaving him unable to pinpoint their identities.

"Where am I?" He wondered aloud only to hear approaching footsteps, drawing his attention away from the window.

Immediately, he confirmed the movement of the aether in the vicinity and, with that, prepared to snap, only to pause as he recognized those approaching.

A moment later, the door opened and Ana, accompanied by Elena and Arwen, walked in.

"It’s you guys." Alex calmly remarked, relaxing just a bit after seeing some familiar faces.

"You are awake!" Arwen said in excitement as she rushed over and embraced him tightly.

Alex reciprocated the gesture as Ana and Elena walked over, beaming smiles on their lips.

Soon enough, Alex was seated with Arwen next to him, while Ana had opted to stand close to the window, and Elena sat close by.

"You took your time." Ana teased with Alex replying.

"My apologies. Bring me up to speed on what’s been happening." Alex said.

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, firstly, where exactly are we?"

"We have no idea," Ana replied. "The last thing we remember was encountering the Beast and then, waking up here."

"You woke up in this house?"

"Yes."

"So from meeting the Beast to waking up in a noble’s manor."

"That’s not exactly how it happened."

"Then how did it happen?"

"We were brought here," Ana said.

"By who?"

"Me," Arwen replied from the side.

Alex glanced at her. "What happened?"

"Well, when I woke up, it wasn’t in this manor. It was in some cave, I think. It wasn’t a usual cave, though; there was something off about it."

"Hmm."

"Anyways, you guys were with me, so I moved with you all in search of something, anything that would explain where we were and how we got here."

"And?"

"Well, apart from the undying monsters and disquieting terrain, I came across a man. The owner of the manor we are currently in. He saved us and then brought us here. That’s basically the summary of the story."

"Where is this man now?"

"Most likely in his special place," Arwen replied. "That’s what he calls his art room."

"He’s an artist?"

"He dabbles or at least, that’s what he says."

"I see." Alex pursed his lips, taking a moment to put together everything they’d said before remarking. "So we have no idea where we are and how’s progress with finding a way out of wherever we are?"

"Bad, we can’t seem to find an exit. It’s like we are trapped in some subterranean world with all these monsters that don’t want us to leave."

"Also, monsters?"

"Mn."

"Not Cryptids, not mutants, monsters?"

"Though they share some similarities with what we are familiar with on Eventide, they appear to have undergone some sort of transformation that twisted their physical form and also gave them a rather annoying ability."

"And what ability is that?"

Elena and Ana exchanged a look before the latter remarked. "The ability to adapt."

"Like Platadoris?" Alex inquired with Ana nodding.

"Along the lines of that. Whatever we use to kill one of their kind can’t be used to kill another."

"Hmm."

"And it gets even worse than that."

"How?"

"Just like Platadoris, if you use your Power too many times, they adapt to it as well."

"How do you know this?"

"My Power doesn’t affect them anymore." Arwen breathed out in clear annoyance.

"You can’t move them into the Afterlife or something?"

"Nope, they just simply shrug it off and keep attacking. That’s the reason I needed help when the manor owner arrived. I had tried everything but nothing worked. If he hadn’t come when he did, we’d have been devoured." Elena said, leaving Alex silent as he slowly understood the gravity of the situation.